Objets trouves, Hijo Nam
Hijo Nam: Objets Trouvès
Curator: Thalia Vrachopoulos
Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete
Opening: Friday, May 22nd 2015, 19:30
Artillery Building, Fortezza
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete, presented the solo exhibition Hijo Nam: Objets Trouvès, curated by New York based Dr, Thalia Vrachopoulos. The show run from May 2- September 26th, 2015, with the opening reception on May 22nd, at 19:30pm, at the Artillery building, Fortezza, Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete, Rethymnon.
About the solo exhibition Hijo Nam: Objets Trouvès, Thalia Vrachopoulos writes:
Hijo Nam believes that “all values exist in relationship to each other and that restriction to a single material is one sided and small minded.” Nam collects and reuses scraps of metal, wood, paper, wrappers, wine screens, string, and other so called detritus giving it new life by incorporating it into a work of fine art. These repurposed materials contain the imprint of time but also the resulting actions that humanity has impressed upon them. At times bearing holes, scratches and/or stains, dents or other markings of distress these abandoned and forgotten components are found and given new life by the artist Nam. Extracting elegance from such humble materials Nam transforms the common into the beautiful and rare. But, although the process may be similar to those of the Dada master Kurt Schwitters, Nam differs in her chosen subject and artistic vocabulary that is not solely abstract but instead, maintains a dialog with detectable motifs.
One such work is Cycle of Trace, 2012 (130 x 145cm, steel) in which can be seen lines and stains reminiscent of hand imprints on Paleolithic walls, or Jackson Pollock’s purposeful rhythmical gestural drips. Cycle is comprised of neutral coloristic tones in rusts and camels juxtaposing multiple warm and cold shades. The support medium is distressed metal containing holes, dents, patches, nails, on a surface that itself has been wrinkled like fabric. This symphony of subtle colors and marks results in a work that can be read in terms of Neo or Paleolithic painted stones or literally as seen by its two nailed patches.
Delphi (95 x 150cm) and Meteora, (90 x 120cm),2012 both made of steel are abstracted compositions that through their titles and motifs allude to the spiritual topos. The first work is entitled after Delphi, an ancient Greek city known for Pythia its oracle, through whose voice Apollo spoke, and believed to be the center (omphalos) of the world. Meteora, by comparison to the ancient city of Delphi, is Byzantine and thus a modern spiritual site. Nam’s colors again speak to the red earth tones of Greece on the lower sector while at the top, its turquoise expanse to its skies. More than anything Nam as an originary master seeks to be in close contact with her inner self as artist creating paintings, combines, reliefs or sculptures and person.
The show was organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Rethymnon.
The exhibition run through September 26th, 2015.
Free entrance.
Communication:
Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete
Rethymnon Municipal Enterprise (Κ.Ε.ΔΗ.Ρ.)
Mesologgiou 32, 74 100 Rethymnon
Τ: +30 28310 52530, F: +30 28310 52689
info@cca.gr • cca.gr
tvrachopoulos@gmail.com
